Nya and the Wonderful Wizard of Ninjago
by inspirationsoup
Summary: Nya finds herself in some strange Ninjago-version of Oz and needs to find a way home. She just wanted to watch a movie.
1. Chapter 1

So a long time ago, back in what? Season 2? I can't remember. At a time when Garmadon was still evil, they still lived on the Destiny's Bounty, Lloyd's probably a kid still, what I'm trying to say if this got pushed off for years. Anyway a long time ago, the Wizard of Oz got brought up in conversation between the ninjas, both Zane and Lloyd confessed to never having seen the movie.

"What? You guys have to watch it!" Kai exclaimed.

"The Wizard of Oz was like out childhood!" Nya added.

"My dad loved that movie so much we'd watch it every year, we'd even watch the Wiz too." Cole said while reminiscing.

"Yeah, it's a good movie." Jay said, he like the movie but not to the degree of the other three but that doesn't matter. So the four of them kept telling the other two that one of these days they needed to watch the movie but that kept getting pushed off for probably like three years maybe.

Finally, after visiting his dad, Cole came back with a VHS copy of The Wizard of Oz. Lloyd didn't know what a VHS was because he was younger than the others (sorta) and they just looked at him with disappointment for today's youth. They didn't have a VCR so the tape sat in a drawer for another few months until Jay got a VCR from his parent's scrap yard, with took another month to fix up.

And now, after years of just being told how great the movie was, the ninja would all finally sit down together and watch it, with a single bag of popcorn being passed around between them.

"I need two of you to come and help me move some supplies in the shop." Wu said as he walked in, because at this point in time they still have the tea shop (their living situation changes so much I can't remember where they live now).

Jay, admittedly not at much of a fan of the movie as other people when to help Wu. Zane, despite him having not seen the movie being one of the reasons why they were having a movie night, also agreed to help after seeing no one else volunteer.

"Does anyone else smell cake?" Cole asked, suddenly very alert.

"No." Nya responded, confused. No one else smelled anything.

"I swear I can smell cake."

"Cole, I think you're just hungry." Kai said.

"No, I know cake when I smell cake." Cole retorted as he stood up. "Watch me come back with cake."

"Well Cole's gone, more popcorn for us." Nya said optimistically.

The VCR suddenly caught on fire, probably because it was dug out of a scrap yard. Nya sighed.

Carefully, Kai got up and unplugged the VCR before picking it up.

"Don't worry, I think I can fix this." Kai said proudly. The fire got bigger. "JAAYYYYY?" Kai yelled as he carried the VCR out of the room.

"Great movie," Lloyd responded. "I'm going to the bathroom."

Nya was now sitting on the couch alone, she huffed in frustration and looked outside. It had just started to rain and already the sky was dark, what had started as a drizzle soon thickened into a downpour. She got up the look out the window, from there she could see that the pond had already flooded over and water covered the ground, steadily rising.

"Hey, are you guys seeing this?" Nya called. No answer. "Guys?" Slowly, she walked into the hall only to immediately notice the cold water seeping into her socks. Nya looked down to see water rising up to her ankles as it forced itself through the crack under the door. The water sloshed around unevenly, even Nya felt wobbly- as if the whole room was rocking back and forth. She made her way back to the living room, only for a giant shake to surge through the room, she fell against the wall as if it had shifted to the ground, narrowly dodging falling furniture until she rolled face first onto the window.

Looking outside, Nya gasped. Water completely submerged the building on all sides. It wasn't like the garden was just flooded, the garden walls, the trees, the rocks, the ground was all gone. It was as if the house had been transported deep, deep below the sea. Due to the constant rocking and slowly rising water, it took a lot of effort to stand up. Once again, Nya shouted for the others and once again there came no response.

The last thing Nya could remember was the sound of the door snapping just before the room filled with water.


	2. Chapter 2

It took a while for Nya to regain her bearings but the first thing she could process was that she was face down in sand. Slowly, she lifted her head up and wiped the sand out of her face before opening her eyes. All around her was broken pieces of wood jetting out of the beach, several meters ahead were mounds of mossy logs and tropic flowers, behind her was the ocean.

"W-where am I?" She asked herself before realizing that the others were nowhere to be found. "Guys? Kai? Jay?" She called out as she stood up wobbly. She turned to look out at the water, the wreck behind didn't look anything like the tea shop.

"Is that the Bounty?" Confused, Nya walked closer, the wreck was shaking. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed a large scaly tail wriggling from beneath the ship before slowly failing still.

"Could it really be dead?" A woman's voice asked, followed by a scratching noise. Nya jumped before turning around. There stood Misako, in a pimped-out dress, penning something into a journal. "That's one for the scrolls." She smiled.

"Oh, it's good to see you! Do you know what happened to the others? Or how I even got here? Or where here is?"

"As far as I know you came here alone, as for how you got here- that ship, you know it's not wise to go sailing during a storm. And as for here, Darkeley!"

"This doesn't look like Darkeley's school."

"Darkeley isn't a school, it's a village. Besides, why should you know what Darkeley looks like? You're just a foreigner, after all?"

"Foreigner?" Nya asked, taken aback. "Misako, it's me. We _are_ in Ninjago, right?"

"Indeed you are, and it shall be your grave!" A new, harsh voice rang out. Whipping around Nya saw Garmadon, once again in his demonic form, she was utterly confused.

"My plan to destroy Ninjago, bested by a girl who landed her boat on the Great Devourer! You shall play with your life!" He lunged for her, but Misako stood in front of Nya, putting her hand forward.

"Do you not see that she is dripping wet? You may have turned the ocean deadly to us, but if she can brave it without issue then do you really think that you can defeat her in a straight fight?" Garmadon shrunk back, eyeing her before grumbling.

"Perhaps you are right. Very well, your traveler might give you an advantage but I will return." Garmadon smirked as his black smoke engulfed him, as the cloud dissipated he was gone. Misako turned to her, clearly concerned.

"It's not safe for you here, you must seek the wizard- he is the only one who can help you. Follow this path to the Emerald Dojo and speak with the Wizard of Ninjago, he will be able to bring you home."

"So I need to speak with the Wizard of Ninjago... to go home to Ninjago? Is this really a wizardly concern? Couldn't I just call my friends to come drive me home or-" Nya stopped herself from talking when she noticed small creatures coming closer, mossy logs hefted themselves up to reveal small people wearing them as disguises underneath. "Oh, are these the munchkins?"

"I'm ten years old!" The boy nearest to her shrieked.

"Oh. Oh crap- is that Lloyd?" Walking up to her was Lloyd, once again a child, in a ballerina outfit. He looked like he hated every second of this. Nya, on the other hand, was holding back laughter.

"I represent the lullaby league," He made no inflection as he lazily made two steps to the right. "the lullaby league," Two steps to the left. "the lullaby leeaaggue-" he did a half assed twirl before leaning down on one knee. "and I was told to welcome you to Darkely's" Another child handed him a dark blue velvet back which he took and held out to Nya. "Also you dropped this." She gingerly took it as he stood up.

"Seriously, I couldn't have _at least_ be in the Lollipop guild?" He grumbled angrily before walking away. Once he was gone, Nya started laughing before looking into the bag, inside of it was her popcorn which was miraculously unaffected by the water.

"So, the Wizard? I just need to follow this path to get to the Dojo or whatever, right?" She asked Misako while pointing to the golden path in the ground, Misako nodded. Seeing no other reason to stay around, to be honest Lloyd dressed up like a little ballerina would make anyone forget what they were confused about, and began her adventure to where ever was not here.

Unsurprisingly, it was a lot of walking.


	3. Chapter 3

So Nya comes to a crossroads and a wilting cornfield, after who knows who long, one path lead through a dark and creepy forest and the other a clear and sunny stroll through some hills and meadows. Which one to choose...

"If you're going to steal some corn, might I suggest that you don't?"

"Who said that?" Nya asked, looking around only to find that she was alone.

"Making sure the corn doesn't get stolen is my job, although no one ever really comes out here to check so maybe you can steal some corn." Slowly, she followed the sound of the voice, until she made eye contact with a scarecrow. At first, Nya laughed it off as her just hearing things but then, burlap pulled itself down over its black button eyes before lifting back into place, the scarecrow blinked, again and again. "Does it count as stealing corn if it never gets claimed?"

"How are doing that?" She asked in disbelief, pointing her finger at him.

"What?"

"That!"

"Oh! You see, there's a wooden spike going through me and it is hoisting me up on this post. Haha,so don't worry, I'm not actually floating." He said proudly. Nya glared, unsure if he was making a joke or if he genuinely did not get what she was talking about. "Kind of boring though, being stuck up here all day and night."

"Would you like some help down?"

"That'd be great." Nya walked forward into the corn patch, noticing that the plants looked like they hadn't been watered in ages before she turned her attention towards the hissing on the ground. Several green snakes slithered around the open ground around the post, Nya tried to carefully step around them but they tried to bite her whenever she got close.

"Why didn't you tell me there were angry snakes?" She snapped.

"I am not good at decision making!" The scarecrow said back, matching her energy. "They're probably just hungry, ever since the drought started there hasn't been many rats for them to eat."

Nya thought for a moment before she came up with an idea, she reached into the velvet bag and withdrew a handful of popcorn, tossing it as far as she could into the cornfield. Soon, a small squeak was heard, and the snakes slithered off competitively. Quickly, Nya untied the scarecrow's arms before pulling out the wooden spike.

"Thanks for helping-" The scarecrow flopped to the ground like a dead body being dropped from a tree (please don't ask me why I know this). "-me." His voice was muffled against the dirt. As Nya helped him up, she inspected him closely. He had burlap skin, button eyes, and a stitched on mouth, there was a rope tied around his neck to keep his head on while the excess tail of the rope hung over his shoulder, he his coat was loose at the ends, and on top of his straw hair was a scrappy hat with blue jay feathers. Using Nya as support, he regained his bearings and tried to walk on his own wobbly feet. He fell again and the process was repeated a few times until he could walk on his own.

"Why were you up there?"

"To keep the animals away, why else? Don't know why though, I have no idea why any animal would want to eat this." He said while grabbing an ear of corn, it looked like it hadn't been watered in ages. Not even the farmer picks this!"

"I mean, you're alive aren't you? Isn't it kind of cruel to leave you up on a post day and night?" The Strawman rubbed his chin.

"Well... I'm not that good for much else- I think a lot of it has to due with me lacking a brain. I am so empty headed that I would be smarter if I were a jack o'latern! Hey, where are you going?" His voice and the way he moved, when he wasn't falling over, was so familiar but for whatever reason, Nya couldn't remember what or who he reminded her of.

"I'm going to the Emerald Dojo to see the wizard. I'm lost from home and he's supposed to be the only one who can help me, so I assume that he has, like, a map of Ninjago or a phone I could use or something."

"A wizard, huh? He must be able to do anything! Can I come?" The Strawman asked excitedly. "Maybe he could make me smarter, or at least give me some pumpkin seeds so I won't be empty headed."

"Sure?"

"Great, let's go!" He exclaimed, while taking Nya's hand and leading her down the woodsy path.

"But the clear and sunny path!"


	4. Chapter 4

If you notice a shift in tone of the next few chapters it is because I watched the Rocky Horrors Picture Show: Let's Do The Time Warp Again so my life now has meaning.

* * *

"Now entering the Snow Forest? Not exactly snowy..." Nya muttered after reading a wooden sign nailed to a tree. "Maybe it's summer?"

"No, it just hasn't rained in months." The Strawman responded as they continued to walk down the path. "I think a witch or something cast a curse so it wouldn't rain. I like it though, the rain gives me mildew and I hate to rot." Even though he was no longer falling over after every step, the Strawman walked almost drunkenly. He stumbled forward, looking everywhere except in front of him, stopping when Nya put her arm in front of him. He looked ahead, there was nothing but trees.

And then one of the trees, devoid of roots, hefted itself up and moved towards them, three more trees followed suit. While not all of them, several other trees, always in groups of four, crept closer to them.

"We should go around." She whispered, he nodded before the two of them swiftly and quietly tried to walk along the edge of the woods. The forest turned out to be larger than they anticipated and soon the two were lost in the woods. There was an added level of fear, unsure of which trees were just that and which were some sort of creature. When Nya saw one of the creatures heading towards them, she grabbed the Strawman and ducked down behind a tree much larger than the others. Almost immediately, she realized that the tree was metal.

Once the creature turned and walked away, she knocked her hand on the tree, an echo alerted them that it was hollow.

"Hey, look at this." The Strawman whispered, Nya walked over to what he was point at. A symbol engraved into the metal, he poked it only to jump back when a hissing came from the tree. A panel of the metal tree became slightly ajar. Nya pried the door open further, revealing a tunnel into total darkness.

"What do you think this could be?"

"A path under the ocean, dug by the Skeleton King?"

"What?" Nya gave him an odd look. "Are you joking?"

"I don't know, it was just the first thing I could think of. Do you want to go down there?" Just inside of the tree was a wooden platform, gingerly Nya walked on. The platform gave way, immediately the Strawman grabbed onto her, going down with her. He hugged onto Nya and angled them so that he would hit the ground first, when they did, they landed with a giant _puff!_

 _"_ Are you okay?" She exclaimed.

"Yeah, I'm a scarecrow- I don't feel pain!" He said lightheartedly. They picked themselves up, surrounded in total darkness. "So, how do we get out?"

"Look for a light." She called while the two of them stumbled around in the spacious room. There came a metal clank.

"Somethings got me!" The Strawman yelled. Nya would have responded if she hadn't noticed two glowing blue orbs, illuminating just enough for her to see a chain. Going with a hunch, she pulled the chain and light filled the room. She jumped back once she realized that just in front of her, the glowing orbs were apart of a face. A man made of tarnished titanium, one hand clasped at the end of the chain, stood there without moving- as if he was frozen in time. The Strawman came closer to inspect the machine as well, in his arms he held a giant wind up key.

"Where did you find that?" She asked.

"I think this is what I was tripping over."

"You think it goes with him?" Nya walked behind the robot, her suspicions were confirmed when she saw the gaping hole in his back. The Strawman handed her the key, she put it into the slot and started to wind it. With each loud creak, the robot's back straightened, after the third creak his arm lowered and his head turned to face her.

"This workshop is protected." He said in a flat voice, not wanting to test him Nya backed away. Still, the hand that he lowered reached for something behind an old work bench, the Titanium man hefted up an ax.

"We're leaving! We're leaving!" She shrieked. He didn't answer, instead he drew his arms back, ready to swing.

"Don't you hurt her!" The Strawman shouted, trying to grab him by the key in his back and pull him away. Instead the key came out entirely and immediately the Titanium man fell still, the momentum was still enough to plunge the ax into the wall.

"Thanks." Nya gasped, finally taking a look around the room. They were in fact in a workshop, a desk was buried beneath crumpled up newspapers, tools and broken robot parts littered the floor, brass robotic limbs laid in a heap of scrap metal. One top of a bookshelf there was a bird, what kind Nya did not know, but she figured that it must have flown in at some point as the hatch was still open.

"Think this might scare off those tree things?" The Strawman asked while he pried the ax out of the wall.

"I hope so, as for getting out of here... if we are lucky these stairs will hold but it well be a jump on the last step." The two made their was to the stairs, paying the bird no mind as it flew down to the Titanium man, only when they were half way up the stairs did they hear the clanking of metal and turn around.

With all of it's birdly strength, the bird was hefting the key off of the floor and on to the Titanium man's back, grabbing the end with its talons so it could lift it up just enough to put it back into place. Nothing happened for a moment, the two held their breathes.

The Titanium man rose to his feet.


	5. Chapter 5

Don't hit birds, that is bird violence and you can be arrested (maybe)

* * *

Upon seeing the Titanium man rise to his feet, Nya and the Strawman promptly started to book it up the stars and back into the woods, only when they saw the tree monsters creeping towards them did they remember why they even went down into the workshop. However, with the Titanium man following them, they two decided that it was better to just keep running.

It was as if the forest was infinite, no longer how much they ran or in what direction, trees were ahead, the creatures surrounded them, and the Titanium man followed.

The yellow brick road came into view, the Strawman tripped over a tree root and crashed into Nya, they rolled onto the path as the ax fell beside them. One of the tree monsters lorded over them, knelling down enough for them to see the body hidden by the leaves. Large insect-like eyes stared down at them, massive mandibles snapped at them as the flat bodied creature inspected its prey.

A pain filled screech erupted from the monster as green liquid gushed from its leg, behind it was the Titanium man, his ax was coated in a thin layer of the green blood. He swung again, crippling a second leg, and the creature fell to the ground, he made a third and final hit, right in the middle of the creature's back.

Nya and the Strawman slowly got up, stunned in silence as the creature bleed to death.

"I don't suppose any more will come our way," The Titanium man said, holding the ax in both hands. "now, let's talk about why two were in the workshop."

"We were hiding from this things but now they're go so we can go, goodbye!" The Strawman blurted out in a single breath.

"How can you kill something so easily? Don't you feel at least a little bit bad?" Nya asked, ignoring the Strawman's attempt to leave. The Titanium man looked down at his ax, before lowering it and looking back to her.

"I don't feel anything." He said. "Not joy, nor pain, I don't even feel alive. I am hollow. It does not bother me, but sometimes, I wish it would. If you do not return to the workshop, you may leave."

"Believe me, we won't, not when there's the Emerald Dojo to get to." The Strawman said absentmindedly.

"You're going to see the Wizard of Ninjago? People say he can do anything." The Titanium man said, the Strawman face palmed once he realized what he had done. "Could I come with you? Maybe the Wizard could give me a heart."

Considering their first impression of him, Nya was not particularly in favor of the idea, neither was the Strawman. But, Nya did not want to be the person who got on the wrong side of a man wielding a hatchet.

She agreed and the three carried on the path, the bird following them over head. Unbeknownst to them, a creature different from the tree creatures observed from the branches.

The farther they walked the lusher the forest became, moss and climbing vines coated trees, rocks poked out of the underbrush, and the path became distorted by roots and rocks.

"Are we still in the snowy forest?" Nya asked.

"No, we have crossed into the dark woods by now." The Titanium man responded. A low growling could be heard, lurking around them.

"What is that?"

"A wild animal, this forest is full of bears, tigers, lions, and various combinations of the three?"

"Yeah," The Strawman said, looking off into the woods. "like that one."

A massive lion prowled along a fallen log, he leaped down in front of them and hefted himself onto his hind legs.

"You dare enter _my_ forest? I ought to kill you three for bothering me." The falcon that followed them squawked in disapproval, the Grumpy Lion turned is eyes towards the bird. "Hm? Did you bring me a snack?"

He lunged for the bird but thinking quickly, Nya took off her left shoe and hit him square in the face. Immediately, the Lion's rage turned to fear and he cowered, much like a child faced with La Chancla.

"You're not that tough, you're just mean." Nya said as she put her shoe back on.

"Okay, fine-I'm not as cool as I pretend to be!" The Lion admitted. "But I could be! I can be tough, and brave!" He said proudly as he got up. "I'm a lion, I'm supposed to be the king of the jungle, I'm a natural born leader... I'm _supposed_ to be anyway." His ego deflated. "What are the three of you doing here anyway?"

Nya took a deep breath before speaking.

"I'm lost and need to find a way home, the Strawman wants a brain so he can be smart, the Titanium man wants a heart so he can feel things, the bird's just a bird, and we are going to see the Wizard of Ninjago because he can help us somehow. Since I'm guessing there is a pattern here, let me guess; you want something that can make you courageous and the Wizard is the only one who can help you and you want to come with us."

"Sure, why not." He shrugged. In the distance, a drum started beating.

"What's that?"

"Oh, that's my dad playing the drums, he really likes musicals. He actually has a musical number prepared in the event that a group of strangers ever wants to take someone who lives in the forest on a whimsical adventure to meet a magical being, it's a really specific piece."

"Please don't, I don't have time for a musical."

"Oh that god, I have never wanted to sing that song." He turned to face the direction the music was coming from and made a signal for him to cease and desist, there a stern sound of fatherly disappointment, he's not mad at you- he's just frustrated, and then the music stopped.

"We should probably get going, before he gets into the Wicked soundtrack." The Lion said, not at all joking. "I mean it's good, really good, but that is two plus hours of a Broadway spectacle that we do not want to sit through."


	6. Chapter 6

"These fools are so predictable." Garmadon sneered, he loomed over a cauldron where the liquid inside swirled around into different colors that mimic Nya and her new found companions pass through the forest. "They shall never expect my trap." He laughed to himself.

"You mean the one with the flying monkeys? Or the one with the ghosts?" Lloyd asked, while he was still a child he was no longer in a ballerina outfit, he was eating cereal.

"I know the divorce papers say I get you on the weekends but this was really bad scheduling." Garmadon groaned. "Besides, the portal to the spirit world hasn't been completed yet. This trap is much smaller, much simpler, impossible for anyone to be able to escape from on their own."

Garmadon walked away from the cauldron and lifted up a conglomerate of weapons made entirely out of gold. He took great pride in this weapon, the ridges were perfect for digging into enemies, it could be used bluntly when needed, and it made an excellent staff. Though, the crowning feature was that in all appearances, the weapon came across as being one piece, in reality the bottom part was a sheath, when the hidden sword was removed the will of the winged monkeys was sapped away from them.

"Hey, Dad? Why are you even hunting this girl down?"

"Do you remember the wizard, and that curse he put on me? The one that made water feel like acid, thus preventing me from leaving the island?"

"Yeah."

"And how I created a curse so that anything that isn't ground will immediately melt into water if touched by the sea?"

"Yeah?"

" _And_ do you remember who this girl came to the island on a boat, in which both she and the both were unaffected by the curse?"

"...Uh-huh."

"If this girl can do that, then what else can she do? She killed the Great Devourer without trouble! She has been able to team up with nearly everyone she's met so far! I want to know how is she doing this, does she possess a charm that she wears on her at all times?"

"Like a magic pair of shoes?" Garmadon stared at Lloyd for a moment, considering the possibly before speaking.

"No, that's just idiotic. But you understand the point I'm trying to make, yes? That if the ocean could not harm her what else can she do? Can she change the weather or manipulate the water in our bodies? All I know right now is that she is a threat, but soon that won't matter." Garmadon grinned once he saw that the four of them had reached his trap.

"I can see the Emerald Dojo!- Or, just a very mossy hill." The Strawman bellowed as the came to the end of the forest. They now stood in the sunshine, before them was a beautiful field of roses, and beyond that was, indeed, the Emerald Dojo. Even from a distance, it was picturesque, clouds obstructed their view of the Dojo just enough to give a sense of mystery as ornate steps carved from the mountain the dojo rested on met the golden road.

"We're so close! Let's go!" Nya said happily, running forward. The Strawman haphazardly followed suit, the Titanium man calmly walked after them, no happier here as he was in the workshop. The Lion however, stayed where he was.

"Something smells weird." The Lion said while sniffing loudly.

"Come on!" Nya called to him, ushering him towards them.

"I'm telling you guys, something smells _wrong._ " He said while grumpily walking towards them.

"You're worrying over nothing." She responded. The four continued on walking, the field of roses stretched on much farther than any of them expected. She slowed down to a lackadaisical walk. "Why are we running? We ought to have earned a break."

Despite his earlier reservations, the Lion couldn't help but agree, as did the Strawman and the Titanium man. The four ended up sitting down next to the roses, which were all shades of pinks and reds and oranges. There were so many roses that it felt as if though the colors tinted his entire view.

An undisclosed amount of time had passed and all four of them where now lying in the rose field, their troubles the least of their concerns. The Strawman no longer cared that he was brainless, the Titanium man could have sworn that he felt that warm fuzzy feeling that he sought after, the Lion's fears and self doubt over not being a leader had melted away, and Nya was so content in the moment that she had lost all effort to go home.

"What's that?" Nya asked as she pointed up to a dark shape flying overhead.

"A flying monkey I think." The Lion responded. "They used to live in the jungle but now they work for Garmadon. We should probably leave." The others agreed but no effort was made to get up, for whatever inexplicable reason they just could not be bothered. None of them moved, even after a strange crinkling sound began, slowly getting louder.

"Does anyone smell that?" The Lion asked while sniffing strongly. "Smells like smoke."

"Fire?" The Strawman shrieked while sitting up. "Oh God! I can see the fire, the rose field is on fire!" He bolted up and tried to pull up the others. "We need to go now!"

"Why?" Nya groaned.

"Yes, why? It is so pleasant here." The Titanium man added, sounding almost disappointed. Almost.

"No, no! We need to go. It may not bother any of you but straw burns-and I am made of straw!" For someone made of straw and cloth, trying to pull up a metal man, lion, or even a regular human girl was fairly hard. The fire was spreading quickly thanks to the dried bushes, making him try harder.

"Is that a fire?" Nya asked, suddenly snapping back to reality, the rose tint disappearing.

"Yes! That's what I've been trying to tell you!" Pretty soon the scent of smoke was too much to keep the Lion subdued and he leaped to his feet, ready to run. The Titanium man was the last one to get up, as fire is not that intimidating to someone made of metal. For someone with supposedly no emotion, he was not pleased to be pulled away from the flowers.

Back on their feet again, the four continued their trek to the Emerald Dojo, soon leaving the range of Garmadon's sight. He cursed, wondering how the fire could have started.


	7. Chapter 7

Sorry it's taking so long to write, I can stop thinking about fancy food that I don't have.

* * *

The four stood at the base of the mountain, the dojo was shrouded by the clouds above. It looked like an awfully long climb up. Before any of them could even so much as take a single step onto the stairs, a door, disguised by moss and vines, swung open.

"Who goes there? Identify yourselves or I shall smite thy!" A man in a gi yelled loudly, though he did a poor job of sounding threatening.

"Dareth? What are you doing here?" Nya asked in shock.

"That's not how it works." He mumbled before continuing. "I am the guardian of the Emerald Dojo! I, and I alone, decide who is worthy of meeting with the Wizard!"

"Well, that sounds like an amazing job! You should go do that while we talk to the Wizard." Nya said while trying to ascend the stairs, Dareth grabbed her by the back of her shirt.

"Not so fast! To be worthy, you must pass a riddle. But be warned! None have even succeded. First riddle-what is so fragile that it breaks as soon as you say a single word."

No one said anything, because they either didn't know, didn't care, or both.

"Silence, you're right" He grumbled before regaining his cocky demeanor. "However, that is only the first riddle! Second, what has four fingers and a thumb but is not alive?"

Coincidentally, the Strawman's clothe hand fell off, he bent down to pick the old glove up and put it back on. Dareth groaned before moving on to the final riddle.

"A woman shot her husband, dipped him in water, hung him out to dry, and then ate dinner with him later that night. What happened?"

"Umm..." Nya thought for a moment before speaking. "What happened was the guardian of the Emerald Dojo made the mistake of getting on the wrong side of a hungry lion, a guy with an ax, and He Who Walks Behind the Stalks."

"Congratulations! You passed the test!" Dareth blurted out quickly while clapping. "You all may see the Wizard."

"Great." Nya tried to walk up the stairs.

"That is not the way to the Emerald Dojo, walk all you want but you will never reach the top. This is to stop attackers from sneaking in, genius right? This is the real way to get to the top." Dareth whistled, a flapping sound was heard and then, from the horizon a dragon flew towards them. The Lion shrieked in fear before dropping down to a crouch, covering his head with his hands.

"You know what guys? I think I should check on my dad's production of Wicked, see you later!" He said while trying to sneak away. The Titanium man pulled him up.

"We've come too far to turn around now."

"Maybe you've come too far but I just walked across a field." The Lion was pulled on to the back of the dragon with the others, with Dareth holding the reigns. The dragon leaped up in the air, circling around the mountain until they reached the top where they were let off.

"Have fun talking to the Wizard, tell me what he looks like when you get back!" Dareth shouted.

"You mean you haven't seen him?" Nya shouted back.

"No, no one has! Good luck!" He said before flying back down.

Once the dragon was gone did the Lion poke his head up, he then stood up and acted like nothing had happened.

Now, the four were alone, standing in front of a gate in a variety of different greens. The doors themselves were left slightly ajar so they let themselves in. The courtyard was made up of a delicately maintained zen garden, where a pond sat in the very center, cobblestone paths framed the garden as well as created a path to several different doors.

"Which one do we go through?" The Strawman asked.

"We could try the closest one." The Lion responded, they made their way towards the nearest door and went inside. There was no wizard, instead they found themselves in a study, while most of them turned around to look elsewhere, the Strawman walked further into the room. His hand trailed along a shelf of books, all of them about history, science, mathematics, poetry. It was tempting, to just stay in the room and read. He reached for a particularly fetching book on a high shelf, next to a small wooden box, the book was just out of his reach.

"Are you coming?" Nya asked as she walked back into the room.

"Yes-" As he grabbed the book, the Strawman fell backwards, knocking the entire contents of the shelf to the floor. The wooden box hit the ground and smashed open, letters and newspaper clippings spilling out onto the floor. Nya quickly bent down to try and gather the papers, however she could not help but notice one of the the headlines.

" _Wizard's apprentice convicted of treason, sentenced to hang_?" She read aloud. "What?"

"Hey look at this one," He said, holding up a letter. " _You can't keep ignoring us forever. Tell us where our son is!_ What do you think their deal is?"

"We found something!" The Lion declared as he and the Titanium man came back into the room, holding up a pair of green glasses.

"What did you pick up those for?" Nya asked.

"Put them on." The Titanium man responded. She took the glasses from him and put them on, the world around her appeared pitch black except for one thing, a vibrant green door.

While guiding her to not walk into a wall, Nya lead the others to the green door, when in front of it she took the glasses off. Nothing about how the door actually looked made it look any different than the other doors nor was it in a standoutish location.

Putting her hand on the knob, Nya hoped that this would be the door to lead her to the Wizard so that she could finally go home. She turned to her companions.

"Are you ready?"


	8. Chapter 8

Tell me, what can't I do?

* * *

The doors creaked open, giving way to a dark, shadowy hallway. As they walked inside the doors closed behind them, making the Lion jumped.

"Who enters my dojo?" A voice echoed throughout the room, with no visible source as to where it came from. Just then a shimmering light appeared in the room, like the northern lights in a beautiful gold.

"Are you the Wizard?" Nya asked.

"Indeed, I am. What have you come to me for?" He asked in a bold voice.

"I want to go home." She responded.

"I just want some brains so I can be smart."

"I want a heart so I can feel things."

"All I want is some courage."

"Can you do that?" Nya asked again. The Wizard was silent for a moment, before he spoke again.

"Those are but simple tasks." The four of them perked up, happy to finally have their wishes answered. "However, prove to me that you deserve the help of my magic. Find the sorcerer who plagues our land and defeat him and bring me his golden weapon as proof. Only then shall I grant you your wishes."

"When you say defeat, do you mean kill?" The Titanium man asked very sincerely.

"I want for you to defeat him, how you do so is up to you. Do not return to me until you have the weapon." A strong gust of wind came rushing at them as the light disappeared, the winds became so strong that it forced them away, all the way out of the dojo.

Soon, Dareth came to bring them down.

"How do we get to Garmadon?" Nya questioned.

"You mean the evil guy?" Dareth said, he pointed out to the distance. "Head that way, through some spooky forest for a while. Legend has it that the guy built his evil lair among a bunch of ancient tombs. So... if he did then, you can't miss it but there's no way you could even get me to go there, if you know what I mean. Anyway, have fun, try not to die, remember to stay hydrated!" He cheered while waving them off.

Truth be told, like most real adventures, the majority of their adventure was just walking, but that isn't really interesting enough to describe in the story and I'm too lazy to actually write something relevant so we shall skip ahead some time.

"So all we have to do is get the weapon and leave, how hard should that be-oh no a winged monkey." The Strawman rambled.

Perched on a low hanging branch was, in fact, a winged monkey with red feathered wings and tuffs of hair spiking up from his head. He was looking right at them, smirking.

"What's a couple of mish-mashed folks like you doing out here?" He asked, swinging down to hang by his tail. "I don't suppose you're after the golden weapon? 'Cause I wouldn't mind getting my paws on that thing. And, unlike your great wizard, I actually have a reason for wanting it." The monkey dropped from the tree and slinked towards them, acting very chummy.

"Who are you?" Nya asked pointedly. He stood in front of them, his wings stretching out pridefully.

"I," He paused for dramatic affect, where or not he accomplished that is up to you. "am the Monkey King. The strongest, smartest, most powerful of all of the flying monkeys-that's why I haven't ratted you guys out yet."

"If you're so powerful than why do you take orders from some mad man?" The Titanium man asked.

"That's my problem, you see, I don't have a choice. The golden weapon is enchanted, who ever wields it can bend all of the winged monkeys to their will three times. Currently, our favorite sorcerer has it, the only thing he's made us do so far is to spy on you guys. Which is why I have a favor to ask of you all." He said, suddenly dropping the boastful shtick and getting serious. "Don't give the Wizard the weapon, give it to me."

"Why should we trust you?" The Strawman snapped.

"Has the Wizard said why he wanted the weapon?"

"As proof we defeated Garmadon." Nya responded.

"But why the weapon? Why not his helmet- or just a witness? If you give me the weapon, I'll destroy it so no one can control my people again. I'll be the hero to my people that I failed to be before."

"The Wizard still seems like a more trustworthy person than you." The Lion growled. The Monkey King smirked, adopting his smug demeanor again. His ability to change tone so quickly was a bit unnerving.

"You really think that the Wizard's really going to give you whatever he's promised you? Once you do whatever task he wants of you, he'll toss you aside." He leaned towards Nya. "I know you're new to the area so you probably haven't heard about the hero who was _supposed_ to defeat the Great Devourer instead of you. Great man, loved by all, he was so close to defeating it when the thing bit him. That snake had some pretty bad venom, in fact the only one who could cure him was the Wizard. Did he? Nope, the hero did a good enough job and the Wizard didn't need him anymore. Some even say that the venom was so bad that he took his own life before the Wizard in an act of defiance. But that's just a rumor."

In the distance, the sounds of hoots and hollers of monkeys reverberated. The Monkey King turned to walk away, he stopped and looked back with a serious tone once again.

"I know you don't trust me, but consider it. After all, if it wasn't for me you all would have been captured at the rose field." He flew away.

The incoming sounds of the flying monkeys quieted, soon they saw a swarm of them heading in a different direction.

"Should we trust him?" The Strawman asked.

"I don't know, let's keep going." Nya responded.

The four of them moved swiftly after that encounter, none of them wanted to admit to any of the others that the Monkey King had sowed doubt about their quest in their minds. Eventually they came to Garmadon's lair, a desecrated temple carved into the side of a mountain. Guarding the temple were vaporous shapes in vibrant shades of green.

"Ugh, there just has to be ghosts." The Lion whined quietly.

None of them noticed the hands coming out of the ground until it was too late.


	9. Chapter 9

Ghostly hands reached out of the ground, grabbing Nya and her companions and yanking them to the ground. The spirits than rose of the ground entirely as the four scramble to get back onto their feet.

Quickly, the Lion jumped to his feet, bearing his teeth and claws in an attempt to scare them off. Because ghosts had that odd habit of being more or less intangible, the attackers were not intimidated in the slightest. Instead, he quickly pulled everyone up and shouted at them too run.

While the Lion was trying to run back into the forest with the Strawman and the Titanium man following him, Nya made a break for the temple.

"Nya? What are you doing?" He yelled.

"Don't let fear stop you!" She shouted back.

"This isn't fear! This is me telling you that we are out numbered and out matched, we can't run in there without a plan!" She didn't listen and instead kept running, the ghosts went after her instead of them.

Nya skidded to a halt, nearly tripping into a massive dried up moat that had been they had not been able to see before. It had now dawned on her on what a mistake she had made, being too stubborn to walk away. The flying monkeys were catching up to them now, the Monkey King looming over in the air, devoid of emotion and zombie-like. Flying monkeys swooped down, trying to grab her.

There was a loud cracking noise and then one of the monkeys was flung over the edge, where it fell limply. Where the monkey had been was the Titanium man, recoiling his ax.

"I didn't think I could live with myself if I let a friend get hurt and I didn't try to help." He said. He swung again at a different monkey, hitting it in one of its wings before shoving it over the edge. A monkey tried to sneak up behind him, only to find itself tackled to the ground by the Strawman and its limbs bound by its own tail. Soon, the Lion came barreling in, swatting monkeys left and right with impressive strength. The Monkey King flew down to try and incapacitate him only to be struck unconscious and tossed over the edge himself.

The ghosts soon added themselves to the fight, one passing through the Titanium man, making twitch erratically before yanking out the windup key in his back. He immediately fell down like a tree that had been chopped. With one down, it immoderately became a lot harder to fight off, Nya herself was kicking and punching and dodging at every chance until something gave her a strong shove and she went tumbling backwards.

The Strawman stopped he was doing, looking over the edge to see Nya gripping onto a root for dear life, she was too far down for him to reach. Thinking quickly, he pull off the rope that kept his head on and lowered it down her, keeping the loop end in his hand. Something pulled him back just as she grabbed onto the tail end, and the rope slipped from his hand.

It was a short battle after that, with the Titanium man incapacitated and the Strawman struggling to keep his head on, the three of them were soon capture and brought by the ghosts to Garmadon. They were ushered into the temple and displayed before Garmadon while he decided what to do with them.

"Melt it down so we can smith some new weapons." He said about the Titanium man.

"Perhaps the monkeys can get a meal out of it, who knows what they won't eat." He said about the Strawman.

"I've always wanted a real animal skin rug." He smirked when he looked at the Lion. "And as for the girl, your command is to find her and bring her to me alive. So help me if she were to die on this land and retain her powers in death." He muttered.

Nya had braced herself for the fall, but it did not come. The loop of the rope had hooked itself on the root she was holding onto earlier, saving her from a long drop. The commotion had died down a while ago, leading her to climb up and see what had happened. No one was left up there, she climb up to escape but a hand grabbed her by the leg and pulled her down. She tried to shriek but a hand clamped over her mouth, she looked back to see the Monkey King haphazardly flying her to the bottom of the moat.

"There's a secret tunnel. Keep quiet and stay near me." He whispered as they landed, leading her to a dark tunnel. He reached into his satchel and withdrew a small unlit torch covered in grease, he then took out a striker and the torch engulfed itself in flames. "He commanded us to hunt you down, his last request will probably be to execute you."

"How come you're not effected by the golden weapon?"

"Oh, I am. I'm taking you to him whether either of us want to or not. I just have enough will power to take you the long way around, but still, think of something quick."

"What are his weaknesses?"

"Water, but that's all gone."

"Isn't there something we can use?"

"Check the barracks or weaponry room, maybe there'll be a bucket hidden somewhere." The two entered a larger stone room decorated with statues of warriors.

"Hey, I just thought of something," Nya said as they passed a statue.

"What?"

"I'm really sorry!" She rammed herself into the statue, causing it to fall. The Monkey King jumped back to avoid being hit, letting go of Nya in the process.

She sprinted as fast as she could away while he was distracted.

* * *

I can't wait to finish this story so I can start another one, also for Ninjago. This story has four chapters left maximum, one of which being an epilogue.


	10. Chapter 10

Sorry it took so long, I messed up my arm in an accident at work. So if updates are so and/or full ofspelling error's- its because I got one working arm.

* * *

After turning who knows how many corners in this maze like lair, Nya concluded that she had gotten away from the Monkey King. Unsure of where to go, she carefully went into the first room she saw, now finding herself in a forgery.

No one else appeared to be in the room so she walked around in hopes of finding a weapon to defend herself with. The kiln in the center made the room sweltering the closer she got to it, near by was a large wooden create labeled "Scraps" she wouldn't have paid it any mind if she had not seen a metal hand out of the corner of her eye. She rushed back to find that the Titanium man had been tossed inside. Nya pulled him out, in a rather physically straining task (metal's heavy), and tried to wake him.

"Wait, the key!" She stood up to look in the bin before realizing that the windup key, as well as his ax, was left outside. Nya resolved to putting out the forge despite not having any water, instead she closed off the vents on the kiln, proud that her background as a blacksmith came in handy before dragging him behind a work bench where he was unlikely to be seen. The only item she could find that could make for a tolerable weapon was a spring swage, it seemed that all weapons- including the hammers used to smith the weapons- were gone.

Nya creaked open the door and checked to see if there were any guards, seeing that the coast was clear Nya kept going while she made note of where the forge was. Despite all of the guards outside, there was hardly anyone guarding the inside of the temple, either they must have thought that no one could ever get in or they thought no one would ever find the secret path so there was no reason to guard this area. Or, as Nya later decided on, anyone who was supposed to be guarding the area got lost in all of the twists and turns.

It was a while before she found anyone else, for the first time she saw a ghost patrolling the hall so she ducked into the nearest room to hide. The room was long and narrow, lined with sloppily made mats on the floor and racks on the walls line with all sorts of odds and ends.

"Back for another round, huh? Well, I'll have you know that I have made _several_ sarcastic comebacks." A familiar voice rang out. She turned and looked around, that voice was undeniably the Strawman but she didn't see him. "Nya? Over here!" He shouted happily.

"Shhh! No one can know I'm here."

"Oh, sorry," He whispered.

"Where are you?"

"Down here." Looking down, Nya saw that the floor was covered in hay, a few meters in front of her was the Strawman, or what was left of him. His burlap face lied on one of the mats, with hay leaking out of it, near by was his shirt and trousers. Had he been a human and not a scarecrow, the scene would have been absolutely horrifying. "Don't worry, we can just stuff the hay back in." He said reaffirmingly.

Quickly, Nya scrambled up as much hay in her arms as she could and stuffed it into the clothes, putting his head on top. After some stuffing and shaking, the Strawman was almost back to how he was before. "One last thing, grab that rope so I can tie my head on." She handed it to him and he stared at it quizzically. "Let me see if I can remember how they tied it before." He began to tie the rope with a determination, and Nya soon realized that the knot he had tied was a noose.

And yet, he still slide it over his head and pulled the tail end tight, completely unconcerned despite Nya's horrified expression.

"What are we waiting for?" He asked cheerfully while clambering to his feet. "Let's go find the others."

The Strawman led Nya to the door while she tried to regain her bearings.

"So their plan was to let the monkeys eat me, they want to skin the Lion and melt toy solider."

"The Titanium man's windup key is outside, he won't be able to help us be he's out of danger for now. We need to find the Lion though."

"No one's in the hall, let's go."

"Wait, look." Nya walked back into the barracks, finding a small bucket of water. "Now we can stop Garmadon!"

The two wandered around in the hallway for a while, moving slowly as to not spill any water or alert anyone of their presence, as well as trying to check every door they found in search of the Lion.

"Stop me if I'm being stupid," The Strawman whispered with his hand on the door. "but doesn't it seem just a little weird that this insanely powerful warlock's one weakness- which he has made nearly impossible to get- can be found in his own lair?"

"That is kind of strange, but maybe the flying monkey's are on our side? Or at least wish they could be." The Strawman shrugged it odf and opened the door, inside the room were three ghosts sitting around a table playing poker.

They stared at each other for a while in silence.

"INTRUDERS!" One of the ghost shouted before the three of them flew out at them. One of them flew directly towards Nya, she jumped back before he could grab her causing the water to slosh around in the bucket. A few drops slashed out and hit the ghost, he immediately began to dissipate before disappearing completely. They stared for a moment before the fact that ghosts can be destroyed by water sunk in. Now with confidence, Nya splashed water into the other ghosts' face.

Feeling insured by the power gifted to them by a bucket of water, Nya and the Strawman barreled down the hall to look for their missing friend. In one of the doors the Strawman opened, he quickly slammed it shut and leaned agaisnt the door.

"What's in there?"

"Don't worry about it, let's keep going."

"What did you see?"

"Nothing! Let's just find the warlock and end this."

"But what about the Lion? We have to find him." She demanded. The Strawman walked up to her putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Believe me when I say, let's keep going. Don't worry about the Lion, nothing can hurt him now."

* * *

This chapter reminds me of that one show that's basically Chopped but knives.


	11. Chapter 11

Against Nya's wishes, the Strawman pulled her away from the door. They darted up a nearby flight of stairs and around the corner.

"New priorities, we need to stop the warlock, then rescue the Titanium man, then-"

"Then what?" Garmadon stood before them, smirking proudly. He was too far away for the water to hit him if Nya threw it, and several ghosts drifted around him, no doubt willing to take the bullet for him if she even tried. "Be honest, do you really think you can stop me? A girl with a bucket and a sack of hay that let his mind rot into oblivion? Go ahead, splash me with your water."

Nya gripped the bucket tighter but did not make any movements to throw it, Garmadon looked annoyed that she would not play along. With a wave of his hand, the ghosts flew forward to barrage them. Knowing that there were too many of them to fight, they ran through the nearby doors, finding themselves racing across the path on top of the temple's outer wall's. From the top of the keep, the Monkey King watch silently, unsure of what to do. With the intention of saving the majority of it for Garmadon, Nya splashed the ghosts sparingly, eliminating only a few of them in the process.

In a panic, Nya ended up throwing the bucket, destroying most of the remaining ghosts but mostly just accidentally tossing the one thing that can stop Garmadon over the edge.

"Oh no." She gulped. A single ghost remained, bigger and better armed than the rest, he raised his sword that emitted a haunting green glow. Before he could strike them, the ghost was roughly tackled by a glowing green mass of fur and claws.

"It can't be..." The Strawman said in disbelief. Once the ghost had been subdued, their savior stood up. Indeed, it was the Lion as it seemed that not even death could keep him away.

"I may be cowardly, but there's no way I can rest peacefully around knowin' full well that somebody needs my help." It was apparent that he was sacred and upset over what had happened to him but he smiled anyway and stood tall. "Sorry it took so long, had to run out and get something first."

Garmadon grew tired of waiting around, he muttered a dark enchantment and the golden weapon began to glow purple, he was about to launch it at the three when he suddenly spun around to use the staff as a block from the Titanium man's ax.

"What took so long?" The Lion called out.

"Says the one who weights literally nothing, asks me again about speed when you are made of metal." The Titanium man joked, actually making an inflection in his voice for the first time that Nya has known him.

"Insolent fools!" Garmadon shouted as he pushed him back. Garmadon looked around, spotting the Monkey King, briefly they looked eyes and the Monkey King jumped up to fly away. Garmadon unsheathed the sword hidden in the golden weapon and raised it up. "Bend to my will and destroy the girl!"

The Monkey King struggled for a moment, before turning back while drawing out his fire starter. He threw a ball of fire at Nya, the Lion tried to block it but it went through him. Nya managed to duck before it could hit her, smashing into the wall behind her. The fire dissipated, embers flying off and catching on skin and straw.

Quickly, the Strawman was engulfed in flames, he jumped around and screamed in panic. Rather unbefittingly, Nya's attention was on Garmadon. The Titanium man had grabbed him when his back was turned and now held him by the handle of his ax. Seeing as the swing of a sword would have limited affect on him, Garmadon raised his sword again.

"By the power of the golden weapon, get this machine away from me!" He called to the Monkey King.

"The golden weapon's not supposed to have a sword." Nya muttered to herself.

"N-no. No, you can't make me!" The Monkey King responded in growing confidence. "You just used your third command!"

"Come to think of it, the golden weapon was destroyed a long time ago." Nya added, the chaos around her seemed to drown out as she did some thing. "That's right, the golden weapon's gone and-and Garmadon's one of the good guys now, and I'm the water ninja."

Storm clouds began to form overhead.

"You might want to find some cover." Nya told the Lion as she stood up. He looked up at the sky before phasing through the floor. As soon as he was gone, a drop of water landed on the handle of the ax just before Garmadon.

"What are you doing?" He hissed.

"Ending the drought." On cue, a down pour began. The rain was spread across Ninjago, people came out of their homes to see that for the first time in months, the rain returned, filling up the dead rivers and giving life back to the fields and forests. The water put out the flames on the Strawman, who survived with repairable damage.

Steam lifted up off of Garmadon, as the rain quickly brought upon total sublimation towards him. When the steam cleared, all that was left of him was the golden weapon.

The rain lightened up to a drizzle and halted soon afterwards.

* * *

For whoever asked about my arm, so I work with this animal program and I'm usually in the reptile department but the guy who takes care of the fish was out and then someone was like "that tank needs to be cleaned" and it's a really big tank. Anyway, me and this lazy peice of crap coworker and I need to move the tank but because he's an asshole, he left the flying squirrel's cage open so I was like "go close it" while we were pulling the tank out of storage. So either this guy was fed up or seriously stupid because he walked away to close the cage while we were pulling the tank out, anyway the tank fell on me and landed on my arm. It's not broken but it's in a sling.


	12. Chapter 12

To be perfectly honest, I wrote this chapter only out of spite. I saw another Ninjago story about the Wizard of Oz with Nya as the main character that is also marked as a parody so I decided I needed to update the story to make a point.

* * *

The Titanium man picked up the golden weapon, passing it over to Nya as she walked over. The Lion floated back up and the Strawman and the Monkey King walked over to look at Garmadon's remains.

"We have the golden weapon, we can finally see the Wizard!" The Strawman exclaimed.

"Actually..." Nya turned the weapon in her hand before holding it out to the Monkey King. "Take it and destroy it."

"Nya, he's our enemy!" The Lion retorted.

"Not by his own choice, the staff can control the monkeys, remember?" The Strawman interjected.

The Monkey King took the weapon in both hands, staring at it in wonder before pulling Nya into a hug.

"Thank you." He told her as he let go, holding the staff triumphantly. "Now me and my people can finally destroy all of Ninjago!"

"What?"

"I'm just kidding! We'll probably just go back to making and selling tools. But nevertheless, you have done my people a great deed and we cannot thank you enough." The Monkey King then let out an animalistic screech, seemingly alerting all of the monkeys in the area of a certain direction to fly in. He happily waved goodbye as he flew away.

"Well that's really nice and all but you just gave away the one thing the Wizard wanted." The Lion said dryly.

"Don't worry, I know just what to say."

As the four returned to the base of the Emerald Dojo, Dareth was throwing a bucket of water onto the rose field.

"Can you believe the weather we're having! You guys should have seen it!" He exclaimed. "Hey, something about you guys seems different." He rubbed his chin, puzzled before pointing to Nya. "Cut your hair?"

"No, and if you don't mind, we need to see the Wizard."

Even the Emerald Dojo was not exempt from the rain, the zen garden was practically waterlogged. Still, the four wasted no time and walked straight into the Wizard's room. The shimmering golden light appeared before them.

"So you have returned... have you fulfilled my task?"

"Yes...and no." Nya said, she thought about what she was going to say before continuing. "Garmadon is defeated but we don't need the golden weapon to prove it. Go outside, it's dripping wet because of his curse being broken!"

"I gave you one task and you have fail to-"

"No, you gave us _two_ tasks!" The Strawman has interjected. "We got rid of the wizard guy, task one done. But we got proof and you're ignoring it, look!" He twisted his arm, water squelched out of it, the Lion jumped to the side to avoid being splashed.

The Wizard began to speak again but was cut off by the sound bird squawking loudly. Nya had long since forgotten about the falcon that followed them from the snowy forest, she always assumed that it flew away after the fire but there it was, squawking and hoping around on the ground in front of a set of curtains she had not noticed before. She would have brushed it off and assumed that the drapes masked a window but then the falcon went past them, only to be abruptly shoved back.

"Ignore the bird!" The Wizard called out. "It is a nuisance and a distraction!" Nya felt compelled to walk over to the curtains, like she had seen this happen before. Despite the Wizard's protests, she yanked back the curtains to see Wu operating a series of levers and cranks. "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!" The man spoke into a funnel, in the Wizard's voice.

"You're a fraud!" The Strawman barked. Realizing the jig was up, the Wizard shut off the illusion and stepped out.

"What are you doing here, Wu?" Nya asked. The man seemed slightly confused, as if she had just called him by the wrong name but brushed it off and began to speak.

"I am the Wizard of Ninjago, I might not be as great or as powerful as the public's perception of me but I do not want to let them down. I admit, I have made a lot of mistakes but my goals have always been to help others."

"That's great and all but are you going to help us?" The Lion snapped. The man chuckled and withdrew a bag from his hideout, to the Lion he gave a military badge of honor.

"You call yourself a coward even though you braved death to help others."

"I can wear this because I'm a ghost but thanks."

To the Titanium man he gave a velvet heart stuffed with sawdust, because the Wizard in all retellings of the Wizard of Oz just gives Dorothy's companions placebos (or just plain alcohol, seriously) this was good enough.

"You worried so much that being mechanical would take away your humanity that you forgot to enjoy life."

To the Strawman, he gave a thick book of mathematics and engineering. The Strawman quickly began to flip through the pages.

"You can learn to be braver, and you can learn to be more compassionate, but to learn to be smart-you must actually learn."

Lastly, he came to Nya.

"So do you have like, a map or something? Just in general, what part of Ninjago am I in?"

"Farther than home than you realize." Wu led her outside, visibly impressed by the downpour that had happened earlier, the rain had begun again flooding the garden further. "I suppose you four really did it. I think a victory like this deserves tea." The others walked out, protected by the rain by a wooden awning while Wu went to fetch a tea pot.

When he returned, steam escaped from the spout of the small blue tea pot in his hand. It did not smell like any tea Nya recognized and he did not have any cups with him. By now, the water in the garden had reached just below the wooden boards they were standing on when the rain stopped.

To everyone's surprise, instead of pouring anyone tea, Wu just dumped the entire pot into the water. Before anyone could comment on the rudeness, the water began to swirl and give off light as it morphed into a small, calm whirlpool.

"Traveler's tea." Wu stated matter-of-factly. "It can take you anywhere you want to go. I might not be as powerful as I seem, but that doesn't mean I don't have a few tricks."

Finally, after all this time, Nya could finally go home. She looked back at the others who waved goodbye to her, she felt like she should say she would miss them but it didn't feel like she would be leaving any of them behind by going home. Instead, she just waved back before jumping into the vortex.

* * *

And that point is, I don't care if the story is better written or more popular, I beat them to the punch.

Also, I kinda just wanted to finish this so I could move onto a new project.


	13. Epilogue

The first thing Nya could register was that she was surrounded by water, the second thing that she could register was that someone was pulling her out. Her head rose above the surface of the water and she gasped for air as Kai pulled her out of the surprisingly deep pond at the tea house. Nya coughed up some water and then tried to catch her breath.

"What happened?" She finally asked.

"You took a nap and started sleep walking," Kai explained. "It was funny at first but then you fell in the pond. You haven't sleep walked since we were little kids."

"I know, I had the weirdest dream."

"About what?"

After the long and crazy adventure she had just been on, like most dreams, Nya could not remember what happened aside from glimmers of faces and events.

"Hey, I fixed the VCR!" Jay called from inside. The siblings went back inside, getting several towels before joining the others on the couch. It seems that in the time Nya had been asleep, whatever Wu needed help with was done, the VCR was fully repaired, and Cole was right about there being chocolate cake. Turns out, their neighbors wanted to welcome them to the area and brought some over.

"So this movie's about some girl and her animal friends right?" Lloyd asked as he ate cake.

"Only one of them is an animal." Nya responded. "The other two are a scarecrow and a robot."

"You know, I never got what was the deal with them, it always seemed like such random things to be characters." Jay mulled. "Why would a scarecrow come to life and why would a lion be scared of everything?"

"They explained it in the books but not the movie, the scarecrow was brought to life with magic paint and he was literally born yesterday when Dorothy met him, unless you accept Wicked as canon, then he was a normal guy who was accused of treason and was sentence to be lynched but a magic spell turned him into a scarecrow so he wouldn't die. The Tin man, and this is in the regular books, was also a normal guy who was cursed to basically kill himself with his ax and had his body parts replaced with metal ones."

"And the lion?" Zane asked.

"He was just a coward, there's no real answer to it, just like there's no answer on why we watch house hunting shows all the time, we just do." Although she did not remember much of what happened in her dream, Nya suddenly realized that she might have a pretty dark mind.

Kai had finally finished remembering how to use a VCR and put the tape in before getting back onto the couch and cutting himself a slice of cake. A few meaningless warnings about illegal showings played (you know those ones that one let you skip them so you get up to get a drink because it's 1997 and cell phones aren't cool yet).

And then, the opening scene flickered onto the screen and was not even two minutes into the movie before the screen began to flicker again.

"Did my day record over it?" Cole asked himself in disbelief. The black and white imagery of Kansas or some Lego version of it disappeared and in its place was the beginning of West Side Story. "He taped over it!" Cole yelled. Shouts of frustration filled the room, aside from Nya who found herself for unknown reasons having had enough Wizard of Oz for one day, was fine with this sudden change.

Eventually everyone quieted down while Kai took the tape out. In the end, the five of them resolved to watching a few episodes of their favorite house hunting show and eating cake, though Nya was a bit distracted because she kept finding random pieces of straw in her hair.


End file.
